CN115148651A

CN115148651A - Wafer cassette exchange transmission equipment and driving device and storage library thereof

Info

Publication number: CN115148651A
Application number: CN202210913664.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 成龙; 缪峰
Original assignee: Mi Fei Industrial Shanghai Co ltd
Current assignee: Mi Fei Industrial Shanghai Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-08-01
Filing date: 2022-08-01
Publication date: 2022-10-04
Anticipated expiration: 2042-08-01
Also published as: CN115148651B

Abstract

The application provides a wafer box exchange transmission equipment and drive arrangement, repository thereof is applied to semiconductor manufacturing equipment technical field, and wherein drive arrangement includes: the horizontal movement mechanism, the vertical movement mechanism and the movement mechanism base are arranged in a staggered mode and in a non-overlapped mode through the movement mechanism base. Through arranging in the dislocation in space, not only realize drive arrangement's flattening overall arrangement, reduced the required space of whole drive arrangement, the impact that probably brings when the different direction of motion velocities of motion are very fast can effectively be cushioned to the base moreover, can provide a quick, steady wafer box transfer mode for the repository.

Description

Wafer cassette exchange transmission equipment and driving device and storage library thereof

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, in particular to wafer cassette exchange transmission equipment and a driving device and a storage library thereof.

Background

At present, driven by the market demand of semiconductor integrated circuits, semiconductor factories have been widely built and used with Automatic Material Handling Systems (AMHS) to improve the yield and rate of finished products in semiconductor manufacturing, greatly shorten the waiting time for products in process, shorten the production cycle of wafer products, and provide guarantee for the rapid marketing of semiconductor integrated circuit products.

However, in the conventional storage library (STK for short) under AMHS, the transmission device for exchanging the wafer cassette with the air transportation vehicle is still based on the conventional driving method, so that the transmission device not only needs to occupy more space positions of the storage library but also cannot be flexibly arranged in the storage library according to the needs of the air transportation vehicle.

Therefore, a new driving apparatus for transferring the wafer cassette is required.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the present application provides a wafer cassette exchange and transmission device, a driving device thereof, and a storage library, which are driven based on a staggered layout, occupy a small space, can stably and quickly transmit a wafer cassette, and can flexibly arrange a transmission mechanism according to the need of exchanging the transmission position of the wafer cassette.

The application provides the following technical scheme:

the present application provides a drive device, the drive device includes: the horizontal movement mechanism comprises a first power unit and a first linear movement unit, the vertical movement mechanism comprises a second power unit and a second linear movement unit, the vertical movement mechanism is arranged on the movement mechanism base, the first linear movement unit is arranged outside the movement mechanism base and is used for driving the movement mechanism base to do linear movement in the horizontal direction, a carrying disc used for placing a wafer box is arranged on the second linear movement unit, the first power unit is positioned in the space below the carrying disc and is arranged on the movement mechanism base, and the vertical movement mechanism is positioned outside the space below the carrying disc and is arranged on the movement mechanism base;

the first power unit is used for providing power for the first linear motion unit to enable the first linear motion unit to linearly move on a horizontal plane, and the second power unit is used for providing power for the second linear motion unit to enable the second linear motion unit to linearly move on a vertical plane;

when the first linear motion unit moves linearly in the horizontal direction, the connecting seat drives the motion mechanism base to move linearly in the horizontal direction so as to drive the vertical motion mechanism to move linearly in the horizontal direction; when the second linear motion unit makes a vertical linear motion, the second linear motion unit drives the carrying disc to make a vertical linear motion.

The application also provides a wafer cassette exchange transmission device, wafer cassette exchange transmission device includes:

a motion assembly, the motion assembly being a drive device as described in any one of the embodiments herein;

the carrying disc is connected with the moving assembly;

the box, the inside of box is provided with the motion subassembly, and the mesa of box is seted up and is supplied the motion subassembly drives carry the motion slotted hole that the dish carries out the motion.

The present application further provides a storage library, which includes a plurality of switching windows, and the driving device as described in any one of the embodiments of the present specification is disposed in the switching windows, or the wafer cassette switching transmission device as described in any one of the embodiments of the present specification is disposed in the switching windows.

Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effect that above-mentioned at least one technical scheme that this application adopted can reach includes at least:

the horizontal movement mechanism and the vertical movement mechanism are arranged in a staggered mode in space by adopting the same base, so that the flat layout of the driving device is realized, the space required by the whole driving device is reduced, and the base can effectively buffer the impact possibly brought by the fact that the movement speeds of different movement directions are high. In addition, through flattening improvement on a driving device inside a conveying machine table (namely wafer cassette exchange and transmission equipment), when the driving device is applied to the conveying machine table, not only can the space position occupied by the conveying machine table be effectively reduced, but also the stability and the conveying speed of the conveying machine table for conveying the wafer cassettes can be improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic top view of a driving device in the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic side-view axial view of a drive arrangement of the subject application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a carrier tray and a vertical position limit detection in a driving apparatus according to the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic top view of a wafer cassette exchange transfer apparatus of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer cassette exchange and transmission apparatus applied to a crown block window in the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer cassette exchange and transmission apparatus provided with a detection unit and a guardrail.

Detailed Description

The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The following embodiments of the present application are described by specific examples, and other advantages and effects of the present application will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure of the present application. It is to be understood that the embodiments described are only a few embodiments of the present application and not all embodiments. The present application is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modifications and/or changes in various respects, all without departing from the spirit of the present application. It is to be noted that the features in the following embodiments and examples may be combined with each other without conflict. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

It is noted that various aspects of the embodiments are described below within the scope of the appended claims. It should be apparent that the aspects described herein may be embodied in a wide variety of forms and that any specific structure and/or function described herein is merely illustrative. Based on the present application, one skilled in the art should appreciate that one aspect described herein may be implemented independently of any other aspects and that two or more of these aspects may be combined in various ways. For example, an apparatus may be implemented and/or a method practiced using any number and aspects set forth herein. Additionally, such an apparatus may be implemented and/or such a method may be practiced using other structure and/or functionality in addition to one or more of the aspects set forth herein.

It should be further noted that the drawings provided in the following embodiments are only schematic illustrations of the basic concepts of the present application, and the drawings only show the components related to the present application rather than the numbers, shapes and dimensions of the components in actual implementation, and the types, the numbers and the proportions of the components in actual implementation may be arbitrarily changed, and the layout of the components may be more complicated.

In addition, in the following description, specific details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of the examples. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without these specific details.

At present, in order to rapidly transfer a wafer cassette in each process step, a storage library needs to be provided with a plurality of exchange windows, for example, a crown block window for exchanging the wafer cassette with an air transport vehicle, for example, an artificial window for exchanging wafers with an artificial robot, a ground robot (such as an AGV transfer robot, an AMR autonomous mobile robot, etc.), and a related transfer machine (also referred to as an exchange transfer device) is arranged in the exchange window for exchanging the wafer cassette.

However, the conventional driving method and structure of the transmission machine disposed in these switching windows are still adopted, for example, the motion mechanism is based on a direct driving method, not only the mechanism itself needs to occupy a large space, but also needs to drive the motion mechanism with a large power, and needs to adopt a driving motor with a large volume, and the motor with a large volume needs to occupy more space, for example, the vertical motion mechanism is superposed on the horizontal motion mechanism, so that the whole motion mechanism needs to occupy more space in the height direction, therefore, the existing transmission machine based on the conventional driving method and structure needs to occupy more space inside the storage warehouse in the height direction and the width direction, and the transmission machine works at a lower transmission speed, resulting in low overall switching efficiency.

In addition, the layout structure of the mutual direct superposition of the motion mechanisms in the existing machine table needs to be improved and promoted in addition to the aspect of space utilization rate, and also brings about some restrictions: when the moving speed is high, the stacked structure cannot effectively buffer the impact caused by the excessively high moving speed, and even possibly amplifies the impact, so that the wafer box on the carrying disc is impacted and accidents (such as overturning, dropping, wafer cracking and the like) occur.

Based on this, the embodiment of the present specification proposes a driving device applied to a wafer cassette conveying apparatus: as shown in the structural schematic of the driving device (also referred to as a driving mechanism) shown in fig. 1 to fig. 2, on one hand, in terms of the driving mode, considering that the horizontal moving mechanism needs to occupy a longer space in the length direction, the power mechanism and the moving mechanism can be separately arranged in different dimensions, for example, the moving mechanism is driven by a force transmission mode, which not only can reduce the driving force requirement of the moving mechanism on the power mechanism, thereby reducing the space occupation requirement of the power mechanism by reducing the driving force requirement, and effectively reducing the space occupation of the entire driving device, but also after the force transmission driving mode is adopted, the power mechanism and the moving mechanism can be flexibly arranged in different dimensions according to the limitation of the actual space on the driving device, so that the space occupation of the entire driving device can be further reduced, for example, the linear moving mechanism in the horizontal direction, considering that the wafer cassette needs to occupy a fixed volume in the exchange window, for example, the width direction of the window is usually a fixed large size, for example, the width of the wafer cassette for transporting 12 inches of wafers is 347mm, and at this time, the inside the conveying machine station can be designed by using a relatively short driving force transmission mode, for example, and a power transmission mode can be used for providing a relatively short driving mechanism for example, so that the linear motion in terms of the linear driving mechanism can be used; on the other hand, based on the space allowance on the width, the motion mechanisms in different dimensions can be arranged on the structural layout by adopting a staggered layout design idea, for example, the horizontal motion mechanism and the vertical motion mechanism are not directly overlapped any more, but are arranged in a staggered manner through the same motion mechanism base, for example, the power part and the vertical motion mechanism in the horizontal motion mechanism are arranged on the same base, the motion part in the horizontal motion mechanism is separated from the base, the space occupation of the driving device can be further reduced through the staggered layout, the mutual impact influence between the motion mechanisms at a higher transmission speed can be buffered through the staggered structure and the motion mechanism base for switching, the impact influence is reduced, the conveying machine can work at a higher conveying speed, and the wafer cassette is more stable and safe in conveying.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in fig. 1 to 3, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a driving apparatus for a pod transferring device, where the driving apparatus may include: a horizontal movement mechanism 10 (as indicated by the dashed box in fig. 1), a vertical movement mechanism 20 (as indicated by the dashed box in fig. 1), and a movement mechanism base 30.

As shown in fig. 1 to fig. 2, the horizontal movement mechanism 10 includes a first power unit 101 and a first linear movement unit 102 (as indicated by a dashed line frame in fig. 1), the first linear movement unit 102 is disposed outside the movement mechanism base 30, the first linear movement unit 102 is used for driving the movement mechanism base 30 to perform a horizontal linear movement, the vertical movement mechanism 20 is disposed on the movement mechanism base 30, the vertical movement mechanism 20 includes a second power unit 201 and a second linear movement unit 202, and a tray for placing a wafer cassette is disposed on the second linear movement unit 202.

The first power unit 101 is used for providing power to the first linear motion unit 102 to enable the first linear motion unit 102 to make linear motion in a horizontal plane, the second power unit 201 is used for providing power to the second linear motion unit 202 to enable the second linear motion unit 202 to make linear motion in a vertical plane, so that when the first linear motion unit 102 makes linear motion in a horizontal direction, the motion mechanism base 30 is driven to make horizontal linear motion to drive the vertical motion mechanism 20 to make horizontal linear motion, and at the moment, the load disk follows the linear motion in the horizontal direction; and when the second linear motion unit 202 makes a vertical linear motion, the second linear motion unit drives the carrier disc to make a vertical linear motion, and at this time, the carrier disc follows the vertical linear motion.

Therefore, when the wafer cassette is placed on the carrier and the first linear motion unit 102 and/or the second linear motion unit 202 move linearly, the wafer cassette will follow the driving device to move linearly, thereby realizing the position change of the wafer cassette in exchange.

In an implementation, the first power unit 101 and the first linear motion unit 102 are designed in a separated layout, and the first power unit 101 and the first linear motion unit 102 may be driven by a force transmission manner. The first power unit 101 may be disposed on the motion mechanism base 30 (as illustrated in fig. 1 and 2), or disposed outside the motion mechanism base 30 (for example, at one end of the first linear motion unit 102).

In practice, the first power unit 101 and/or the second power unit 201 may be a mechanism for providing power, such as a servo motor, a motor, etc. In addition, a force transmission driving mode is adopted between the power unit and the linear motion unit, and the first power unit 101 and/or the second power unit 201 can be installed transversely, so that the power units can be conveniently arranged and installed according to the space position on the base of the motion mechanism.

It should be noted that the power unit for providing power may be selected according to actual application requirements (such as power requirements, volume requirements, etc.), and is not limited herein.

It should be noted that the boat is a mechanism for carrying a wafer cassette in a wafer cassette exchange, only the mounting position of the boat is shown in fig. 1 and 2, and fig. 3 shows a structural schematic of the boat 13, and it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the mounting position and the structural form of the boat 13 shown in the schematic diagram should not be construed as limiting the present embodiment.

Therefore, by fully utilizing the space allowance in the width direction of the exchange window and adopting a new driving mode and a structural design for staggered layout, the internal space of the conveying machine can be fully utilized, the requirement of a driving device for space occupation is greatly reduced, the whole driving device is flattened and miniaturized, when the driving device is applied to a wafer box conveying machine table, the space position occupied by the conveying machine table can be effectively reduced, the conveying speed when the conveying machine table conveys a wafer box and the stability and the safety under high-speed conveying can be improved, a plurality of exchange windows can be flexibly deployed in a storage library conveniently, and efficient shunting when the wafer box enters and exits the storage library is realized.

In the implementation, in the offset layout design, the power mechanism in the horizontal movement and the motion mechanism in the vertical movement can be offset on the motion mechanism base 30 with smaller space occupation by the installation characteristics provided by the motion mechanism base 30.

As shown in fig. 2, the first power unit 101 is located in the lower space of the carrier tray and mounted on the moving mechanism base 30, and the vertical moving mechanism is located outside the lower space of the carrier tray and mounted on the moving mechanism base 30.

Specifically, in the vertical movement mechanism 20, the second power unit 201 is mounted on the movement mechanism base 30 by being placed laterally by a mounting plate, and the first power unit 101 is disposed in a space between the boat and the movement mechanism base 30 in parallel to the horizontal movement direction on the movement mechanism base 30.

In some embodiments, the linear motion unit may be implemented by a gear and a toothed belt (or rack) which occupy a smaller space in a meshed fit.

As shown in fig. 1 to 2, the first linear motion unit 102 includes a first toothed belt 1023 and a first gear 1024, wherein the first gear 1024 is engaged with the first toothed belt 1023 to drive the motion mechanism base 30 to perform a horizontal linear motion under the driving of the first power unit 101.

In implementation, the first toothed belt 1023 is arranged above the outer side of the movement mechanism base 30 to form a staggered structure, so that the space of the outer side of the movement mechanism base 30 is better utilized, and the occupation of the whole driving device on the space is reduced.

In an implementation, after the movement mode that the gear is engaged with the toothed belt, the first power unit 101 drives the first linear moving unit 102, which may be determined according to the arrangement between the gear and the toothed belt, for example, the toothed belt does not move, when the first power unit 101 drives the gear to rotate, and for example, the gear does not rotate, when the first power unit 101 drives the toothed belt to move.

In some examples, it may be that the first power unit 101 provides power to the first gear 1024 such that the first gear 1024 rotates into meshing engagement with the toothed belt.

In implementation, the first power unit 101 includes a first servo motor, the first servo motor is installed on the moving mechanism base 30, the first gear 1024 is connected to an output shaft of the first servo motor, that is, the output shaft of the first servo motor drives the first gear 1024 to rotate; and, the one end of first toothed belt 1023 sets up to the stiff end, the stiff end sets up in first preset position 1021, and the other end of first toothed belt 1023 sets up to the free end, the free end can according to actual demand length with the stiff end is mutually supported to satisfy whole toothed belt length adjustment needs and set up in second preset position 1022, first preset position 1021 and second preset position 1022 are located the motion base 30 outside top space as aforementioned fig. 2 schematic on the first horizontal plane.

When the first gear 1024 is driven by the first power unit 101, the first gear 1024 rotates, and then the first gear 1024 is engaged with the first toothed belt 1023, so as to drive the moving mechanism base 30 to perform a linear motion in a horizontal direction.

In some examples, the first power unit 101 may provide power (not shown) to the first toothed belt 1023, and the toothed belt is driven to move, so that the first gear 1024 is engaged with the first toothed belt 1023 to drive the moving mechanism base 30 to move linearly in the horizontal direction.

In an implementation, the first power unit 101 includes a first servo motor, the first gear 1024 is connected to the moving mechanism base 30, the first servo motor is installed outside the moving mechanism base 30, for example, at one end of the moving mechanism base 30 in the linear motion direction, and the first servo motor drives the toothed belt to move, so that after the toothed belt is meshed with the gear, the toothed belt drives the gear to move, and thus the moving mechanism base 30 is driven to move linearly.

Therefore, through the meshing between the gear and the toothed belt, the rapid and stable linear motion can be realized.

In some embodiments, a guiding function portion, such as a guiding track, may be disposed on a horizontal plane along the traveling direction, so as to better support the motion mechanism base 30 to perform a linear motion, which is beneficial to reduce the driving force requirement of the first linear motion unit 102 on the first power unit 101, and to reduce the output power of the first driving unit 101, thereby being beneficial to reduce the volume of the first driving unit 101.

As shown in fig. 1 to fig. 2, the first linear motion unit 102 further includes a first sliding rail 1025 and a first sliding block 1026, wherein the first sliding rail 1025 is disposed on a second horizontal plane (e.g., on the bottom plate 16 of the conveyor), the first sliding block 1026 is disposed on the first sliding rail 1025, and the first sliding block 1026 is connected to the motion mechanism base 30 through the connecting base 302.

By adopting the first sliding rail 1025 and the first sliding block 1026, the movement mechanism base 30 can be better supported to slide on a horizontal plane, so that not only can the occupied space be reduced, but also better guidance and more stable movement can be realized.

In some embodiments, the second linear motion unit may also adopt a gear and rack mating engagement to realize the linear motion.

As shown in fig. 1 to 2, the second power unit 201 is a second servo motor, the second linear motion unit 202 includes a sliding rail mechanism 2023 and a second gear 2021, wherein the sliding rail mechanism 2023 is vertically disposed on the motion mechanism base 30, a rack 2022 engaged with the second gear 2021 is disposed in the sliding rail mechanism 2023, and the second gear 2021 is connected to an output shaft of the second servo motor, so that the second gear 2021 is engaged with the rack 2022 under the driving of the second servo motor, so that the boat can perform linear motion in the vertical direction.

In some embodiments, an auxiliary traveling wheel set may be disposed below the moving mechanism base 30 to realize sliding motion, which not only can support the moving mechanism base 30, but also can reduce stress in linear motion of the moving mechanism base 30, thereby reducing power output of the first power unit 101, and facilitating reduction of the volume of the first power unit 101.

It should be noted that the auxiliary traveling wheel set may be disposed in a space below, outside, or the like of the movement mechanism base 30.

In one example, as shown in fig. 1 to 2, a first auxiliary traveling wheel set 301 is provided at one side of the moving mechanism base 30, wherein the first auxiliary traveling wheel set 301 is used to support the moving mechanism base 30 to slide on a preset horizontal plane in a horizontal direction.

In one example, as shown in fig. 1 to 2, the first auxiliary traveling wheel set 301 is disposed on a first side of the moving mechanism base 30, the first side being an outer side of the moving mechanism base 30 opposite to the first linear moving unit 102.

Through setting up first supplementary wheelset 301 in the motion base 30 outside, realize the dislocation overall arrangement design, not only can make full use of conveying board in the ascending space of width direction, can also reduce drive arrangement and occupy in the space of direction of height, realize the flattening structure of less space volume. In addition, the auxiliary traveling wheel set is adopted to support the driving device to slide in the horizontal plane, so that the stability during movement is further improved.

It should be noted that the number of the first auxiliary traveling wheel sets 301 may be set according to actual needs, for example, 2, which are respectively supported on the first side of the moving mechanism base 30, and for example, 4, which are respectively supported on the first side of the moving mechanism base 30 and the side opposite to the first side.

In addition, the auxiliary traveling wheel set can be selected according to the actual application requirements, and the size, the shape and the like of the traveling wheel are not limited here.

In some embodiments, the driving device may further include a rotating mechanism configured to rotate around a vertical direction, and the rotating mechanism may be controlled to rotate around the vertical direction when the orientation of the pod needs to be adjusted, so as to adjust the orientation of the pod placed on the boat.

As shown in fig. 2, the driving apparatus further includes a rotational movement mechanism 50, wherein the rotational movement mechanism 50 is disposed between the carrier disc and the second linear movement unit 202, and the rotational movement mechanism is configured to drive the carrier disc to rotate so as to drive the wafer cassette placed on the carrier disc to rotate.

In practice, the rotary type directly adopts the way that the rotary motor drives the carrying disc, so the rotary motion mechanism 50 can be the rotary motor, and further, the carrying disc is installed on the rotary motor, so that the rotary adjustment of the carrying disc is realized.

In some embodiments, the rotation angle of the rotating mechanism can be detected, so that the loading disc can be rotated to a required angle conveniently.

In the implementation, still adopt the dislocation design thinking, set up detection device and carry out the angle detection in year dish below space, drive arrangement still includes first detecting element, first detecting element is used for right rotary motion mechanism's rotation angle detects, so that rotary motion mechanism makes according to predetermineeing the angular rotation year dish is rotated to predetermined first angle.

In an implementation, the detection device may include a fixed portion and a moving portion capable of rotating along with the carrier disk, and the detection is realized through cooperation between the fixed portion and the moving portion.

In one example, as shown in fig. 2 to 3, the first detection unit includes a first sensor 409 and a first detection plate 410, wherein the first detection plate 410 is disposed on the carrier tray 13 to rotate along with the carrier tray, the first sensor 409 is disposed in a space below the carrier tray 13, such as fixedly mounted on the top of the second linear motion unit 202, and the first detection plate 410 is configured to trigger the first sensor 409 when the rotary motion mechanism 50 rotates the carrier tray 13 to detect whether the carrier tray 13 rotates to a predetermined first position (or referred to as a first angle).

In implementation, a plurality of first sensors 409 are fixedly arranged on the top of the second linear motion unit 202, for example, three first sensors 409 in fig. 2 are distributed on the same circumference, so that the three first sensors 409 are used in cooperation with the first detection plate 410 on the carrier tray to form 3 sets of angle detection combinations, that is, the angle detection positions of 0 °, 90 ° and 180 ° are respectively formed, and rotation according to a preset angle and rotation angle detection are ensured.

It should be noted that in the present embodiment, the first sensor 409 is disposed on the top of the second linear motion unit 202, and the first detection plate 410 is disposed on the boat 13, so that in another embodiment, the first detection plate 410 is disposed on the top of the second linear motion unit 202, and the first sensor 409 is disposed on the boat 13.

In some embodiments, a corresponding detection unit may be disposed at a designated position for performing limit detection on linear motion in the horizontal direction and/or the vertical direction.

In some examples, the driving device further includes a second detection mechanism for detecting whether the horizontal movement mechanism 10 reaches the preset second position during the horizontal movement, and triggering the horizontal movement mechanism 10 to stop at the preset second position when the horizontal movement mechanism 10 reaches the preset second position is detected.

As shown in fig. 1 to 2, the relevant detection mechanisms may be provided at a horizontal origin position 402, a first horizontal limit position 401, and a second horizontal limit position 403, respectively, to set the linear movement range of the entire movement mechanism and to provide an origin position reference and a debugging position. Thus, the preset second position may be a position corresponding to when the horizontal moving mechanism 10 is operated to: a horizontal origin position 402, a first horizontal limit position 401 and a second horizontal limit position 403.

As shown in fig. 1, the first horizontal limit position 401 is used to limit a travel limit position when the wafer cassette travels to the left side shown in fig. 1; the horizontal origin position 402 is used for indicating an origin reference position, a debugging position and the like of the movement of the wafer cassette in the horizontal direction; the second horizontal limit position 403 is used to limit the travel limit position of the wafer cassette when traveling to the right as viewed in fig. 1.

In some examples, the driving apparatus further includes a third detection mechanism, which is configured to detect whether the vertical movement mechanism 20 reaches a preset third position during the vertical movement, and trigger the vertical movement mechanism 20 to stop at the preset third position when the vertical movement mechanism 20 reaches the preset third position.

As shown in fig. 3, the relevant detection mechanisms may be arranged at a vertical origin position 406, a first vertical limit position 405 and a second vertical limit position 407, respectively.

It should be noted that the first vertical limit position 405 is used for limiting the maximum height limit position of the wafer cassette in the vertical direction; the vertical origin position 406 is used to indicate an origin reference position where the wafer cassette moves in the vertical direction; the second vertical limit position 407 is used to limit the minimum height limit position in the vertical direction of the wafer cassette. The first vertical limit position 405 and the second vertical limit position 407 form a linear movement range in the vertical direction, and the vertical origin position 406 provides an origin position reference, a debugging position, and the like.

Therefore, relevant detection mechanisms can be arranged at corresponding positions, for example, a groove-type photoelectric sensor is used as a detection device at the detection positions, a corresponding detection plate is correspondingly arranged on a moving part of the moving mechanism, and when the detection plate shields the photoelectric sensor, a corresponding detection signal is triggered and output, so that whether the driving device moves to a limit position in the horizontal direction and/or the vertical direction can be known according to the detection signal, and the detection signal can also be used for indicating the stopping of the movement of the driving device.

In some embodiments, the detection mechanism may employ a detection mode in which a sensor and a detection plate cooperate.

In some examples, as shown in fig. 2, the second detection mechanism includes a second sensor provided on the moving mechanism base 30 and a second detection plate 404 provided at a first designated position in the traveling direction of the first linear moving unit 102, such as the aforementioned horizontal origin position 402, first horizontal limit position 401, and second horizontal limit position 403.

In some examples, the third detection mechanism includes a third sensor and a third detection plate 408, the third detection plate 408 is disposed on the second linear motion unit 202, the third sensor is disposed at a second designated position in the traveling direction of the second linear motion unit 202, and the second designated position may be the aforementioned vertical origin position 406, first vertical limit position 405, and second vertical limit position 407, and the like, as shown in fig. 3, wherein the second designated position may be vertically disposed in the space above the movement mechanism base 30.

As shown in fig. 3, groove type photo sensors may be respectively disposed at a first vertical limit position 405, a vertical origin position 406, and a second vertical limit position 407, so that a limit corresponding detection signal corresponding to a vertical movement is output when the third detection plate 408 shields the photo sensors.

In the above example, the plurality of sensors in the horizontal direction are disposed at the first predetermined position, and the detection plate is disposed on the moving mechanism base 30 which moves linearly; in yet another example, a sensor may be provided on the moving mechanism base 30 in a horizontal direction, and a detection plate may be provided at the first designated position. Therefore, the number, positions, etc. of the sensors and the detection plates in the horizontal direction can be flexibly arranged. Similarly, the number, positions, etc. of the sensors and the detection plates in the vertical direction can also be flexibly arranged.

Based on the same inventive concept, the embodiment of the present specification further provides a wafer cassette exchange and transmission apparatus (also referred to as a transfer machine). As shown in fig. 1 to 5, the wafer cassette exchange and transfer apparatus includes: a motion assembly, a carrier disc 13 and a box body 1. The moving assembly is arranged in the box body 1, and a moving slot 14 for the moving assembly to drive the carrying disc 13 to move is formed in the table top of the box body 1.

The moving component is the driving device according to any one of the foregoing embodiments in this specification, and specific reference may be made to the related description in the foregoing examples, and the description is not repeated.

After the moving assembly is applied to a conveyor table (i.e., the device) of a storage library, a flat and miniaturized structural design of the conveyor table is realized, so that the volume of the box body 1 is remarkably reduced in the height direction, for example, the occupied space of the existing three-layer storage cabinet is reduced to only one-layer storage cabinet.

In some embodiments, a temporary storage area may be disposed on the box body 1 for temporarily storing the wafer cassettes during cassette exchange, so as to improve the efficiency of cassette exchange and distribution.

As shown in fig. 4, the box body 1 is provided with a first area 11 and a second area 12 for temporarily storing the wafers, wherein the first area 11 and the second area 12 are respectively located at two ends of the motion slot 14.

In practice, the first area 11 may be fitted with a U-shaped plate and the second area 12 with two rectangular plates arranged in parallel.

It should be noted that the first area 11 may be located at an internal location of the repository, and the second area 12 may be located at an external location far away from the internal location of the repository, or the second area 12 may be located at an internal location of the repository, and the first area 11 may be located at an external location far away from the internal location of the repository, which is not limited herein.

Through setting up first region 11, second region 12, the wafer box in these district temporary storage exchanges can be utilized, for example the stacker in the repository can deposit the wafer box in first region 11 temporarily, the aerial transport vechicle can deposit the wafer box in second region 12 temporarily etc. again for example first aerial transport vechicle will deposit the wafer box in second region 12 temporarily after, this wafer box is taken away from second region 12 to the second aerial transport vechicle, therefore not only can solve the temporary storage in the wafer box exchange, also do benefit to the efficiency that improves exchange and reposition of redundant personnel.

In some examples, by providing the corresponding detecting units, it is possible to detect whether or not the cassettes are placed on the first and

second regions

11 and 12 of the housing 1, and to detect the placement state (e.g., levelness) of the cassettes.

In some examples, as shown in fig. 4, two first position positioning pins 111 may be respectively disposed on the first regions 11, and corresponding first position sensors 112 may be disposed on the positioning pins that need to be sensed and detected on the first regions 11, where the first position positioning pins 111 are used for positioning in placement in cooperation with the bottom of the wafer cassette placed in the first regions 11, for example, two first position positioning pins 111 in a group may correspond to a bottom groove of the wafer cassette after being disposed on the first regions 11, and are used for limiting the degree of freedom of the wafer cassette in the horizontal direction, and two first position sensors 112 may be used for detecting the levelness.

Similarly, the second position positioning pins 121 may be respectively disposed in the second area 12, and the corresponding second position sensors 122 may be disposed on the positioning pins that need to be sensed and detected in the second area 12, which will not be described in detail.

In some examples, as shown in fig. 4, two first position sensors 112 on the first region 11 are disposed adjacent to the first position positioning pin 111, and the two first position sensors 112 are disposed non-collinearly, and the levelness of the wafer cassette placement is characterized by triggering the first position sensors 112 to output detection signals through the bottom of the wafer cassette. Similarly, the two second position sensors 122 and the second position positioning pins 121 on the second area 12 can also be configured similarly, and are not repeated herein.

The number, positions, and the like of the position positioning pins and the position sensors can be flexibly set, and are only schematically described here, and should not be construed as limiting the present embodiment.

Through setting up position locating pin and position sensor, not only can restrict the degree of freedom of wafer box, also can detect the levelness that the wafer box placed.

In some examples, a wireless identification device (e.g., an RFID reader) may be disposed at a corresponding designated position on the table of the box 1, such as a hole position 113 on the first area 11 in fig. 4, wherein the hole position 113 is a slot hole, and an RFID reader is disposed at the lower end, so that when a wafer cassette is placed at the position, the ID information of the wafer cassette above can be detected by the RFID reader, and the corresponding tag information of the wafer cassette can be quickly acquired.

In some examples, positioning pins and sensing devices may be disposed at corresponding positions on the boat 13 for detecting the wafer cassette placed on the boat 13.

As shown in fig. 3 to 4, the apparatus further comprises a first sensing unit comprising a plurality of first sensing elements 132 and a plurality of first positioning pins 131;

the first positioning pin 131 is disposed on a disk surface of the carrier disk 13, and is configured to be matched with a first positioning portion (e.g., a groove) of a wafer cassette to be placed on the carrier disk, the first positioning portion is disposed at the bottom of the wafer cassette, and the first positioning pin 131 corresponds to the groove at the bottom of the wafer cassette, so as to limit the degree of freedom of the wafer cassette in the horizontal direction when the wafer cassette is placed on the carrier disk 13; the first sensing element 132 is disposed on the surface of the disk surface of the carrier disk 13, and is configured to output a first detection signal after the wafer cassette is matched with the first positioning pin, where the first detection signal is used to represent that a wafer cassette to be exchanged has been placed on the carrier disk, and specifically, when the bottom surface of the wafer cassette is horizontally placed on the carrier disk 13, the first sensing element 132 is triggered to output a detection signal (for example, a signal is sent to the controller) at the same time, so as to indicate that the current wafer cassette device is horizontally placed on the carrier disk 13.

In some embodiments, the effective space of the conveyor can be utilized to detect whether the wafer cassette is placed at a specific position by matching with the related detection mechanism.

In some examples, as shown in fig. 5-6, the apparatus further comprises a second sensing unit comprising a first opto-electronic component 22 and a first reflector 23;

the first photoelectric assembly 22 is disposed on the box body 1, the first reflector 23 is disposed in a space above the box body 1, wherein the first photoelectric assembly 22 transmits a first optical signal (for example, a schematic line between the first photoelectric assembly 22 and the first reflector 23 in fig. 6) to the first reflector 23 to detect whether a wafer cassette to be exchanged is placed on the top of the box body 1.

In some examples, as shown in fig. 6, the apparatus further comprises a third sensing unit 24 (e.g., a photosensor) located on the bottom of the enclosure 1 for detecting the status of the cassettes on the enclosure located within the storage compartment.

In some embodiments, the aforementioned first sensing unit and/or second sensing unit may include at least one of the following sensors: a push-button micro-switch, a pressure sensor and a photoelectric sensor.

In some embodiments, the device may be disposed in a crown block window of a storage vault for exchanging crystals between an aerial delivery vehicle and the storage vault. It should be noted that the overhead traveling crane window (i.e., overhead wafer exchange port) is a window for exchanging wafers between the storage warehouse and the overhead transport vehicle, and the wafer cassette on the overhead transport vehicle can be stored in the storage warehouse through the overhead traveling crane window, and the wafer cassette in the storage warehouse can also be exchanged to the overhead transport vehicle through the overhead traveling crane window, so the overhead traveling crane window can be a window for exchanging the wafer cassette with the overhead transport vehicle in the storage warehouse, and has a wide application in the field of chip manufacturing.

The device is flat and miniaturized and is applied to the crown block window, the crown block window can be flexibly arranged in a storage library, and therefore the exchange and the distribution of wafer boxes can be efficiently carried out by utilizing the shuttling of a plurality of overhead transport vehicles and the crown block window.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 5, the box 1 of the device is partially suspended outside the storage library in the overhead crane window of the storage library, and the device further includes a lifting base 3, where the lifting base 3 includes a cross bar and two side diagonal rods, where the cross bar is fixed and supported at the bottom of the suspended box, and two ends of the cross bar are connected to the storage library through the diagonal rods.

Through with the device part hangs in the storehouse outside, can reduce the conveyer and take up the storehouse space, also can be convenient for set up the overhead traveling crane window on the storehouse. In addition, the lifting base is arranged and always supports the part of the whole device extending out of the storage warehouse, so that the whole device can bear the pressure of the wafer and can also maintain a horizontal state in the air.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 5 to 6, the apparatus further comprises a guardrail 2, wherein the guardrail 2 is disposed on a box suspended outside the storage library for protecting the wafer cassette from falling and/or overturning. The number, position, length, height, and the like of the guardrails 2 can be flexibly set, and are not limited.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 5, the apparatus further includes an electric control box 4, where the electric control box 4 is disposed on a lower surface of the box 1 suspended outside the storage library, and is used for providing a control power supply and/or a control signal to the motion components in the box 1.

Through set up accuse electronic box 4 in the box 1 below that hangs, further realize dislocation overall arrangement design, make full use of space reduces the device is to the occupation of repository space, also convenient to overhaul, maintain.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 5 to 6, the apparatus further comprises a fourth sensing unit 21, the fourth sensing unit 21 being disposed on the top of the guard rail 2 for detecting the jaw status of an air transporter exchanging a wafer cassette with a storage library. The fourth sensing unit 21 may be a set of two sensors, and is located at the highest position as a whole, so as to conveniently detect the state of the clamping jaw of the air transport vehicle, such as whether the clamping jaw of the air transport vehicle enters or exits the window of the crown block or whether the clamping jaw is retracted.

Based on the same inventive concept, the embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a storage library for efficiently transferring the wafer cassettes.

The repository includes: the wafer cassette switching transmission device comprises a plurality of switching windows, wherein the driving device in any one embodiment of the description is arranged in each switching window, or the wafer cassette switching transmission device in any one embodiment of the description is arranged in each switching window.

Through being applied to the repository with the drive arrangement or the conveying board after improving, because occupation space is little, can lay corresponding quantity's exchange window in the repository according to the flow reposition of redundant personnel needs of wafer box circulation in each technology link to improve the efficiency that the repository exchanged the wafer box, be favorable to improving the efficiency of semiconductor factory wafer processing.

In some embodiments, the exchange windows include a put-in window (i.e., an exchange window where the wafer cassettes are stored in the storage library, which may be referred to as an inlet) and a take-out window (i.e., an exchange window where the wafer cassettes are taken out of the storage library, which may be referred to as an outlet), which are arranged side by side.

It should be noted that the positions, the numbers, and the like of the placing windows and the taking windows may be arranged according to the actual shunting requirements, and are not limited herein.

The embodiments in the present specification are described in a progressive manner, and the same and similar parts among the embodiments can be referred to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from the other embodiments.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope of the present application should be covered within the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A drive device, characterized in that the drive device comprises: the horizontal movement mechanism comprises a first power unit and a first linear movement unit, the vertical movement mechanism comprises a second power unit and a second linear movement unit, the vertical movement mechanism is arranged on the movement mechanism base, the first linear movement unit is arranged outside the movement mechanism base and is used for driving the movement mechanism base to do linear movement in the horizontal direction, a carrying disc used for placing a wafer box is arranged on the second linear movement unit, the first power unit is positioned in the space below the carrying disc and is arranged on the movement mechanism base, and the vertical movement mechanism is positioned outside the space below the carrying disc and is arranged on the movement mechanism base;

2. The driving device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first linear motion unit comprises a first toothed belt and a first gear, and the first gear is engaged with the first toothed belt to make the motion mechanism base perform a horizontal linear motion under the driving of the first power unit.

3. The drive of claim 2, wherein the first power unit comprises a first servo motor, the first gear being connected to an output shaft of the first servo motor;

and, the one end in first cog belt is the stiff end, the stiff end sets up in first preset position, the other end in first cog belt is the free end, the free end sets up in second preset position, and first preset position and second preset position are located first horizontal plane.

4. The driving device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first linear motion unit further comprises a first slide rail and a first slide block, the first slide rail is disposed on a second horizontal plane, the first slide block is disposed on the first slide rail, and the first slide block is connected to the motion mechanism base through the connecting seat.

5. The driving device according to claim 1, wherein the second power unit is a second servo motor, and the second linear motion unit includes a slide rail mechanism and a second gear, wherein the slide rail mechanism is provided with a rack engaged with the second gear, the slide rail mechanism is vertically mounted on the motion mechanism base, and the second gear is connected to an output shaft of the second servo motor, so that the second gear and the rack are engaged under the driving of the second servo motor, so that the boat can perform linear motion in a vertical direction.

6. The driving device as claimed in claim 1, wherein a first auxiliary traveling wheel set is provided at one side of the moving mechanism base, and the first auxiliary traveling wheel set is used for supporting the moving mechanism base to slide on a preset horizontal plane in a horizontal direction.

7. The drive device of claim 6, wherein the first set of auxiliary travel wheels is disposed on a first side of the kinematic mechanism base, the first side being an outer side of the kinematic mechanism base opposite the first linear motion unit.

8. The driving apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a rotational mechanism, wherein the rotational mechanism is disposed between the carrier plate and the second linear motion unit, and the rotational mechanism is configured to rotate the carrier plate to rotate the wafer cassette placed on the carrier plate.

9. The driving apparatus as claimed in claim 8, further comprising a first detecting unit for detecting a rotation angle of the rotating mechanism, so that the rotating mechanism is rotated by a predetermined angle to rotate the boat to a predetermined first angle.

10. The driving apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first detecting unit includes a first sensor and a first detecting plate, wherein the first detecting plate is disposed on the carrier plate, the first sensor is disposed below the carrier plate, and the first detecting plate is configured to trigger the first sensor when the rotary motion mechanism rotates the carrier plate, so as to detect whether the carrier plate rotates to a predetermined first position.

11. The driving device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising a second detecting mechanism, wherein the second detecting mechanism is configured to detect whether the horizontal moving mechanism reaches a second predetermined position during the horizontal movement, and trigger the horizontal moving mechanism to stop at the second predetermined position when the horizontal moving mechanism reaches the second predetermined position;

and/or the driving device further comprises a third detection mechanism, wherein the third detection mechanism is used for detecting whether the vertical movement mechanism reaches a preset third position in the vertical movement, and triggering the vertical movement mechanism to stop at the preset third position when detecting that the vertical movement mechanism reaches the preset third position.

12. The driving apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein said second detection mechanism includes a second sensor and a second detection plate, said second detection plate being provided on said moving mechanism base, said second sensor being provided at a prescribed position in a traveling direction of said first linear moving unit;

and/or the third detection mechanism comprises a third sensor and a third detection plate, the third detection plate is arranged on the second linear motion unit, and the second sensor is arranged on the motion mechanism base.

13. A wafer cassette exchange transfer apparatus, comprising:

a motion assembly, the motion assembly being a drive device according to any one of claims 1-12;

the carrying disc is connected with the moving assembly;

the box, the inside of box is provided with the motion subassembly to and the mesa of box is seted up and is supplied the motion subassembly drives carry the motion slotted hole that the dish moved.

14. The wafer cassette exchange and transfer apparatus of claim 13, wherein the box body is provided with a first area and a second area for temporarily storing wafers, wherein the first area and the second area are respectively located at two ends of the groove.

15. The wafer cassette exchange and transfer device of claim 14, wherein the first area is provided with a plurality of first position pins, the first position pins are used for matching with the bottom of a wafer cassette placed in the first area to realize positioning in placement, and/or the first area is provided with a first position sensor, and the first position sensor is used for detecting the state of the wafer cassette placed in the first area;

and/or the second area is provided with a plurality of second position positioning pins, the second position positioning pins are used for being matched with the bottom of the wafer box placed in the second area to realize positioning in the placing process, and/or the second area is provided with a second position sensor, and the second position sensor is used for carrying out state detection on the wafer box placed in the second area.

16. The wafer cassette exchanging and transporting device as claimed in claim 13, further comprising a first sensing unit, wherein the first sensing unit comprises a plurality of first sensing elements and a plurality of first positioning pins, wherein the first positioning pins are disposed on the disk surface of the carrier disk for cooperating with the first positioning portions of the wafer cassettes to be placed on the carrier disk, the first positioning portions are disposed at the bottom of the wafer cassettes, and the first sensing elements are disposed on the disk surface of the carrier disk for outputting a first detection signal after the wafer cassettes are cooperated with the first positioning pins, the first detection signal is used for indicating that the wafer cassettes to be exchanged have been placed on the carrier disk;

and/or the wafer cassette exchange transmission equipment further comprises a second sensing unit, wherein the second sensing unit comprises a first photoelectric assembly and a first reflector, the first photoelectric assembly is arranged on the end surface of the box body, the first reflector is arranged in the space above the box body, and the first photoelectric assembly transmits a first optical signal to the first reflector so as to detect whether a wafer cassette to be exchanged is placed on the table top of the box body;

and/or the wafer box exchange transmission equipment further comprises a first radio frequency identification unit, the first radio frequency identification unit is arranged on the table board of the box body, and the first radio frequency identification unit is used for acquiring information of the electronic tag on the wafer box to be exchanged.

17. The wafer cassette exchange transfer apparatus of claim 13, wherein the wafer cassette exchange transfer apparatus is disposed in a crown block window of the storage library for exchanging wafer cassettes between the air transport cart and the storage library.

18. The wafer cassette exchange and transport device of claim 17 wherein the cassette body of the wafer cassette exchange and transport device is partially suspended outside the storage bay in a crown block window of the storage bay, the wafer cassette exchange and transport device further comprising a lifting base, the lifting base comprising a cross bar and two side diagonal bars, wherein the cross bar is fixed and supported at the bottom of the suspended cassette body, and the two ends of the cross bar are connected to the storage bay via the diagonal bars.

19. The wafer cassette exchange and transfer device of claim 18, further comprising a guardrail disposed on the box suspended outside the storage repository for protecting the wafer cassette from falling and/or overturning;

and/or the wafer cassette exchange transmission equipment further comprises a third sensing unit, wherein the third sensing unit is arranged at the bottom of the box body positioned in the storage library and is used for detecting the state of the wafer cassette on the box body positioned in the storage library;

and/or the wafer cassette exchange transmission equipment further comprises an electric control box, wherein the electric control box is arranged on the lower surface of the box body suspended outside the storage library and used for providing a control power supply and/or a control signal for the motion assembly in the box body.

20. The wafer cassette exchange transfer apparatus of claim 19, further comprising a fourth sensing unit disposed on top of the guardrail for detecting a jaw status of an aerial vehicle exchanging the wafer cassette with the storage library.

21. A library comprising a plurality of swap windows, wherein the swap windows have the driving apparatus of any one of claims 1-12 disposed therein, or wherein the swap windows have the wafer cassette swap transfer apparatus of any one of claims 13-20 disposed therein.

22. The storage library of claim 21, wherein the swap window comprises a put window and a take window, the put window and the take window being disposed side-by-side.